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The "Om" symbol in Devanagari

OmFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Om (written universally as ॐ; in Devanagari as ओ ंoṃ [õː], औ ंauṃ[əũ̃], or ओ३म ्om [õːm]) is a mantra and mystical Sanskrit sound ofHindu origin (geographically India and Nepal), sacred and important invarious Dharmic religions such as Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism. Thesyllable is also referred to as omkara (ओकंार oṃkāra) or aumkara(औकंार auṃkāra), literally "om syllable", and in Sanskrit it is sometimesreferred to as praṇava, literally "that which is sounded out loudly".

Om or Aum is also written ओ३म ्(o̿m [õːːm]), where ३ is pluta ("threetimes as long"), indicating a length of three morae (that is, the time it takesto say three syllables)—an overlong nasalised close-mid back roundedvowel—though there are other enunciations adhered to in receivedtraditions. It is placed at the beginning of most Hindu texts as a sacredincantation to be intoned at the beginning and end of a reading of theVedas or prior to any prayer or mantra. It is used at the end of theinvocation to the god being sacrificed to (anuvakya) as an invitation toand for the latter to partake of.

Contents

1 Name, phonology and written representation

2 Hinduism

2.1 Early Vedantic literature

2.2 Puranic Hinduism

2.2.1 Advaita

3 Jainism

4 Buddhism

5 "Onkar" in Sikhism

6 Modern reception

7 References

8 External links

Name, phonology and written representation

The Sanskrit name for the syllable is praṇava, from a root nu "to shout, sound", verbal pra-nu- being attested as"to make a humming or droning sound" in the Brahmanas, and taking the specific meaning of "to utter the syllableom" in the Chāndogya Upanishad and the Shrauta Sutras. More rarely used terms are akṣara (lit. symbol,

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Devanagari as

per the Vedic

scripts

Devanagari

(Hindi, Nepali),

Gujarati and

Marathi scripts

Siddhaṃ alphabet Tibetan Oriya, Assamese

and Bengali

Grantha alphabet Tamil script Telugu and

Kannada scripts.

Malayalam

alphabet

Om in Jain script

character) or ekākṣara (lit. one symbol, character), and in later times omkāra becomes prevalent.

Phonologically, the syllable is /aum/, which is regularly monophthongised to [õː] in Sanskrit. It is sometimes alsowritten with pluti, as o3m (ओ३म)्, notably by Arya Samaj. When occurring within a Sanskrit utterance, the syllableis subject to the normal rules of sandhi in Sanskrit grammar, however with the additional peculiarity that afterpreceding a or ā, the au of aum does not form vriddhi (au) but guna (o) per Pāṇini 6.1.95 (i.e. 'om').

The om symbol is a ligature of Devanagari ओ (U+0913) + ◌ ँ(U+0901) (oṃ, encoded in Unicode at U+0950ॐ, the Tibetan script variant ༀ at U+0F00, the Tamil variant ௐ at U+0BD0, and the Chinese version 唵 atU+5535 or 吽 at U+543D).

Om in various scripts

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Balinese Javanese

Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva within an

OM

Hinduism

The syllable "om" is first described as all-encompassing mystical entity inthe Upanishads. Today, in all Hindu art and all over Nepal and India,'om' can be seen virtually everywhere, a common sign for Hinduism andits philosophy and theology. Hindus believe that as creation began, thedivine, all-encompassing consciousness took the form of the first and

original vibration manifesting as sound "OM".[1] Before creation began itwas "Shunyākāsha", the emptiness or the void. Shunyākāsha, meaningliterally "no sky", is more than nothingness, because everything thenexisted in a latent state of potentiality. The vibration of "OM" symbolisesthe manifestation of God in form ("sāguna brahman"). "OM" is thereflection of the absolute reality, it is said to be "Adi Anadi", without

beginning or the end and embracing all that exists.[1] The mantra "OM" isthe name of God, the vibration of the Supreme. When taken letter byletter, A-U-M represents the divine energy (Shakti) united in its three elementary aspects: Bhrahma Shakti

(creation), Vishnu Shakti (preservation) and Shiva Shakti (liberation, and/or destruction).[1]

Early Vedantic literature

The syllable is mentioned in all the Upanishads, specially elaborated upon in the Taittiriya, Chāndogya andMāndukya Upanishad set forth as the object of profound religious meditation, the highest spiritual efficacy beingattributed not only to the whole word but also to the three sounds a (a-kāra), u (u-kāra), m (ma-kāra), of which itconsists. A-kara means form or shape like earth, trees, or any other object. U-kāra means formless or shapelesslike water, air or fire. Ma-kāra means neither shape nor shapeless (but still exists) like the dark energy content ofthe Universe. When we combine all three syllables we get AUM which is a combination of A-kāra, U-kāra, and

Ma-kāra.[2] According to Yajurveda, Swastika is the symbolic representation of Om in Hinduism.

The Katha Upanishad states:

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The Om Parvat in Pithoragarh

district. Its snow deposit is said to

resemble the "om" symbol.

"The goal, which all Vedas declare, which all austerities aim at, and which humans desire when they live a life

of conscience, I will tell you briefly it is aum"

"The one syllable [evākṣara, viz. aum] is indeed Brahman. This one syllable is the highest. Whosoever

knows this one syllable obtains all that he desires.

"This is the best support; this is the highest support. Whosoever knows this support is adored in the world of

Brahma." (1.2.15–17)[3]

The Chāndogya Upanishad (1.1.1-1) states:

om ity-etad akṣaram udgītham upāsīta / aum iti hy udgāyati / tasyopavyākhyānam

"The udgi:tā ["the chanting", that is, the syllable om] is the best of all essences, the highest, deserving the

highest place, the eighth."

The Bhagavad Gi:tā (8.13) states that:

Uttering the monosyllable Aum, the eternal word of Brahman, one who departs leaving the body (at

death), he attains the Supreme Goal (i.e., he reaches God).

In Bhagavad Gi:tā (9.17): Lord Krishna says to Arjuna – "I am the father of this universe, the mother, the supportand the grandsire. I am the object of knowledge, the purifier and the syllable oṃ. I am also the Ṛig, the Sāma andthe Yajur Vedas."

The Bhagvad Gi:tā (17.23) has:

om tatsatiti nirdesho brahmanstrividhah samratah

"OM, tat and sat has been declared as the triple appellation of Brahman, who is Truth, Consciousness and

Bliss."

In the following sūtra it emphasises, "The repetition of Om should be made with an understanding of its meaning".[4]

Puranic Hinduism

In Purānic Hinduism,as per Vayu Purana, om is the representation of theHindu Trimurti, and represents the union of the three gods, viz. a forVishnu, u for Shiva and m for Vishnu. The three sounds also symbolisethe three Vedas, namely (Rigveda, Samaveda, Yajurveda).

According to Hindu philosophy (see Māndukya Upanishad), the letter Arepresents creation, when all existence issued forth from Brahma's goldennucleus; the letter U refers to Vishnu the God of the middle whopreserves this world by balancing Brahma on a lotus above himself, andthe letter M symbolises the final part of the cycle of existence, whenBrahma falls asleep and Shiva has to breathe in so that all existing thingshave to disintegrate and are reduced to their essence to him. More

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God Ganesha is sometimes

identified with the om

Aum symbol on a temple

elephant's forehead

Depiction of Om in Jain

script

broadly, om is said to be the primordial sound that was present at the creation ofthe universe. It is said to be the original sound that contains all other sounds, allwords, all languages and all mantras.

The Māndukya Upanishad is entirely devoted to the explanation of the syllable.

The syllable consists of three phonemes, a (Vaishvanara),[5] u (Hiranyagarbha),and m (Ishvara), which symbolise the beginning, duration, and dissolution of the

universe and the associated gods Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva, respectively.[6]

Advaita

In Advaita philosophy it is frequently used to represent three subsumed into one,a triune, a common theme in Hinduism. It implies that our current existence ismithyā and maya, "falsehood", that in order to know the full truth we mustcomprehend beyond the body and intellect the true nature of infinity. Essentially,upon moksha (mukti, samādhi) one is able not only to see or know existence forwhat it is, but to become it. When one gains true knowledge, there is no splitbetween knower and known: one becomes knowledge/consciousness itself. Inessence, Om is the signifier of the ultimate truth that all is one.

Jainism

In Jainism, om is regarded to be a condensed form of reference to the Pañca-Parameṣṭhi, by their initials A+A+A+U+M (o3m). The Dravyasamgraha quotesa Prakrit line:

ओम एका�र प�चपरमिे�ठनामा�दपम ्त�कथ�म�त चते "अ�रहतंा

असर�रा आय�रया तह उव�झाया म�ुणया"ं

oma ekākṣara pañca-parameṣṭhi-nāmā-dipam tatkabhamiti ceta

"arihatā asarīrā āyariyā taha uvajjhāyā muṇiyā"

"Om" is one syllable made from the initials of the five parameshthis. It has

been said: "Arihant, Ashiri, Acharya, Upajjhaya, Muni" .

Thus, ओ ंनमः (oṃ namaḥ) is a short form of the Navkar Mantra.

Buddhism

Esoteric Buddhists place om at the beginning of their Vidya-Sadaksari ("om manipadme hum") as well in as most other mantras and dharanis. Moreover, as a seedsyllable (a bija mantra) aum is considered holy in Esoteric Buddhism.

In Buddhist texts of East Asian provenance, om is often written as the Chinese character 唵 (pinyin ǎn) or 嗡(pinyin wēng).

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Ik Onkar (One

God)

A key distinction should be made here between Buddhism as it arose in Nepal, and Buddhism after the migration ofthe teachings to Tibet under the guidance of Padmasambhava. In its original form, Buddhism in Nepal wascharacterised mainly by types of mindfulness meditation and did not involve the chanting of om or of mantras. Thechanting of om is not mentioned even a single time in the Pali Canon (oldest known teachings attributed to TheBuddha) or Visuddhimagga (ancient commentary on The Pali Canon).

"Onkar" in Sikhism

Ik Onkar, in modern Punjabi spelt out as ਇੱਕ ਓਅੰਕਾਰ, but iconically represented as ੴ inthe Guru Granth Sahib (although sometimes spelt out in full as ਏਕੰਕਾਰ)ੁ is the statement of the

uniqueness of God in Sikhism,[7] and is commonly translated simply as "one God".[8] Withinthe phrase, "ik" is the Punjabi word for "one", and "onkar" figuratively means "God" but

literally means "creator of Om";[9] the suffix "-kar" derived from the verb "create", "work", or

"action".[10] Thus, although "Om" is referenced, Sikhism uses it only to starkly emphasize its

monotheism without subscribing to its philosophy in and of itself.[9]

Modern reception

The Brahmic script om-ligature has become widely recognised in western counterculture since the 1960s. As to itsprecise graphic form, the Vedic or Indian om is what most Westerners are used to, and the Tibetan alphabet om is

less widespread in popular culture.[11] Even Tibetan handicrafts made in India tend to use the Nepali-script om forrecognisability.

References

1. ̂a b c Paramhans Swami Maheshwarananda, The hidden power in humans, Ibera Verlag, page 15., ISBN 3-85052-

197-4

2. ^ Satyarth Prakāsh by Swāmi Dayānand Saraswati

3. ^ :sarve vedā yat padam āmananti / tapām̐si sarvāṇi ca yad vadanti / yad icchanto brahmacaryaṃ caranti / tat te

padaṃ saṃgraheṇa bravīmy / om ity-etat //

etad dhy evākṣaraṃ brahma / etad dhy evākṣaraṃ param / etad dhy evākṣaraṃ jñātvā / yo yad icchati /

tasya tat //

etad ālambanaṃ śreṣṭham / etad ālambanaṃ param / etad ālambanaṃ jñātvā / brahmaloke mahīyate //

4. ^ Yoga Sutras of Patanjali (http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/yogasutr.htm), English translation by Bon Giovanni.

(sacred-texts.com)

5. ^ Mandukya Upanishad

6. ^ Werner, Karel (1994). A Popular Dictionary of Hinduism. Curzon Press. ISBN 0-7007-1049-3.

7. ^ Wazir Singh, Aspects of Guru Nanak's philosophy (1969), p. 20: "the 'a,' 'u,' and 'm' of aum have also been

explained as signifying the three principles of creation, sustenance and annihilation. ... aumkār in relation to

existence implies plurality, ... but its substitute Ekonkar definitely implies singularity in spite of the seeming

multiplicity of existence. ..."

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External links

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Categories: Brahmic graphemes Hindu philosophical concepts Hindu symbols Jain symbols

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multiplicity of existence. ..."

8. ^ Singh, Khushwant (2002). "The Sikhs" (http://books.google.com/books?id=5LSvkQvvmAMC&pg=PA114&). In

Kitagawa, Joseph Mitsuo. The religious traditions of Asia: religion, history, and culture. London:

RoutledgeCurzon. p. 114. ISBN 0-7007-1762-5.

9. ̂a b Doniger, Wendy (1999). Merriam-Webster's encyclopedia of world religions (http://books.google.com/books?

id=ZP_f9icf2roC&pg=PA500&dq=%22ik+oankar%22&ct=result#v=onepage&q=%22ik%20oankar%22&f=false).

Merriam-Webster. p. 500. ISBN 978-0-87779-044-0. Retrieved 2011-08-24.

10. ^ "Sri Granth: Advanced Gurbani Search" (http://www.srigranth.org/servlet/gurbani.gurbani?

Action=Advanced&Param=punjabi). SriGranth.org. Retrieved 2011-08-24.

11. ^ Messerle, Ulrich. "Graphics of the Sacred Symbol OM" (http://om.pinkproton.org/pictures/).